This crisply carved sandstone head wears a diadem and has a conical headdress with an identifying small image (bimba) of the emanation source deity, which is here depicted as a Buddha seated in the meditation posture (padma asana) with his hands held in the gesture of meditation (dhyana mudra). Accordingly, this head could represent the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara with the Jina Buddha Amitabha in his crown, who is portrayed as here, or it could be the goddess Prajnaparamita with the Jina Buddha Akshobhya, who is sometimes represented with his hands held in the meditation gesture. Without the original body of the deity, it is difficult to ascertain who the head represents because the physiognomy of male and female deities in Cambodian sculpture of this period is virtually identical unless they are mustachioed. (Brown 2008, p. 85). This head has full lips, but no mustache.
